


Moon 351

by in_san_ity



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: M/M, Romance, Space Pirates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-04 07:21:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17893979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/in_san_ity/pseuds/in_san_ity
Summary: Headstrong bounty hunter Wooyoung and ace galactic sergeant San meet years after their break-up aboard a carrier vessel bound for a prison moon.





	1. Chapter 1

“Of all the places.”

“Come on, don’t start this.” 

“Of all the people.”

“Okay, sure.”

“Of all the things I could possibly imagine happening to me, sitting across from you in a goddam transferral carrier on the way to a fortified prison moon… this- is probably the last thing on my list.”

A faint mechanical ‘thud’ sounded from somewhere in the hull of the clunky transport vessel, and it prompted San to raise his head for the first time. Didn’t sound good. Sounded like something thudding that really shouldn’t be thudding. It was a dull sound, however, could be quite simple to fix-

“It was supposed to be a simple mission. In and out. Would have taken me five seconds to sever that asshole’s head from his body and I would have been out of your way. You never would have had to call it in. You could have left well enough alone and we could be home free.”

Train of thought well and truly broken, San meets Wooyoung’s gaze. He’s angry; filled with the kind of fire that would be far more terrifying if it wasn’t worn on such a beautiful face. There’s a new scar- faint and barely-there- but San didn’t miss the way it cut through the boy’s lip and continued down to his chin. He can tell that Wooyoung’s trying to restrain himself from lashing out, its obvious in the way his chest heaves up and down and his jaw clenches. He has no doubt that the gravity cuffs linking them both to opposite walls are the only thing keeping him from receiving a black eye. 

“How the fuck are we going to get out of this one? You ever been to prison? No?” Wooyoung cocks his head and the rows of earrings he wears make a pretty, soft noise with the movement. “They’re going to eat us alive in there. A bounty hunter and a Force cadet. Humans. I don’t even know what solar system we’re in right now so how am I to know if I’ve got contacts on the inside?”

Wooyoung was brash, fleet-footed and silver-tongued, but he lacked patience. These kinds of things never changed, even if they had years between them, years of different experiences and different people. Years since San had last brushed his thumb over Wooyoung’s lower lip to feel only smooth and faultless skin. It had been such a long time, but San was still so used to this kind of monologue, the way the older boy fumed while he sat by and got his thoughts in order one by one. The memory was enough to warrant a dry chuckle and a shift in posture. 

“Have you lost what’s left of your mind?” Wooyoung blinked, his cold rage momentarily eclipsed by the sheer surprise he’d gotten from the sound of San’s laugh. “Space prison, San. It’s a fucking box floating in space.”

“Huh. Funny that.”

“I swear if you’re mocking me I’ll tear you to pieces.”

All San could do was snort softly, shaking his head. He shouldn’t drag this out any longer. Wooyoung was clearly not handling their current circumstances very well, and they were only getting closer to their destination. There was a tiny device in his back pocket, and twisting a little allowed him to extend his hand far enough to grip it between thumb and forefinger. It was tricky to angle it right what with his wrists bound so tight in the sonic cuffs, but once it was in place, all he had to do was press the button and the cuffs powered down and clanged twice as they hit the floor. His wrists ached keenly and he winced. 

“Are you… are you fucking serious? You had a sonic disruptor this whole-“ 

In a second San cleared the space between them, hands either side of Wooyoung’s hips on the bench and a smirk on his face. Wooyoung didn’t shift an inch, their faces barely a breath apart, the air between them thick with unspoken words. They were equally stubborn and they both knew that all too well. For a moment, San relished in the slight hesitancy in Wooyoung’s eyes; the way the elder looked at him as though San might really leave him behind. He didn’t really feel the need to say much, his actions did most of the talking when he reached around to break the other free, clasping him by the arm and helping him to his feet. 

San didn’t wait for any kind of response, simply cocking his brow at his ex-lover, turning on his heel and heading for the cockpit.


	2. Serenity

Serenity. 

Refreshing, undisrupted serenity; humming in the air around San, carried to his ears in the sound of water swishing softly, warm on his fingertips in the artificial hot springs. It was the first time in a week that he had a moment to himself to truly relax, sprawled naked in a cloud of steam and enjoying the way the rooftop hot spring seemed to drown out the noises of the city below. The perfect illusion. 

Come to think of it, perhaps it had been far longer than a week since the last time San let himself take some time off. Things in the Force never left him with much downtime, and he spent what precious little he had catching up on sleep. This last week had been particularly stressful though, trapped in that tiny prison transport carrier alongside his ex-lover, constantly on the lookout for suspicious blots on the radar as they made their escape. They didn’t speak much, and when they did it was either to go over flight information or for more tension to build over some seemingly insignificant argument. 

It was exhausting, and some time apart was going to be necessary if they were to make it through the next leg of the voyage without too much mental anguish. 

The sound of the paper door sliding open on the other side of the courtyard had San straightening, eyes opening fully now that his serenity had been trampled on. It was hazy from the heat coming off the water, and thus difficult to see who was joining him until the last second when it became apparent that it was Wooyoung shrugging off his robe and dipping his toes into the water not far from where the pilot reclined. It wasn’t such a bad development, all things considered. No matter where things had been left when their relationship ended, Wooyoung’s body was unchangingly arresting, and San had always loved to watch the way it moved. He had to have some kind of reminiscent expression on his face because his companion quickly caught his heated gaze and cocked a brow. 

“Stop staring at me.” 

San snorted, doubting very much that Wooyoung really meant what he said. The way the water rippled around the boy’s hips when he walked seemed like a purposeful seduction. He didn’t look away but he did shift, lifting his arms out of the water and resting them back behind him on the edge of the pool. As if he wasn’t going to enjoy this view while he had it. 

Wooyoung grunted softly, splashing San in the face with hot water and wading out to where the water was a little deeper- deep enough, at least, to cover him all the way up to his chest and shroud him in steam. San supposed the action was supposed to be some kind of deterrent, but it only made that feeling in his belly burn hotter. But he didn’t say anything, didn’t even bother to wipe the water off his face, instead letting it cool in the night air. 

“Still not big on small talk, I see,” Wooyoung says, and it almost sounds like a grumble.

“What are you doing up here, Wooyoung?” San cuts him off, running a hand through his dark hair to push it back, up and away from his face. 

“Sitting in a hot spring, what does it look like?”

“Just doesn’t seem like your kind of scene.”

“Oh so you have a monopoly on recreational spas now?”

The tension’s back. Sometimes its so thick that it blocks up his throat and makes it difficult to say anything at all, but right now it just feels like something’s fogging up his brain. Wooyoung’s the only person San has ever met who makes him feel like this. This irrational need to gain ground and fight for territory between them. Its like a competition that can never be won. Yet still, despite all of that (or maybe because of it) all San wants to do in the moment is grip Wooyoung’s hips in his hands and lift him up onto the ledge, to watch his thighs turn pink as he gets between them. He wished it made sense. 

“No, I guess I don’t. I was just enjoying the peace and quiet while I could.” 

San’s already made up his mind to leave the springs. There’ll be no returning back to his previous serenity now that Wooyoung is here, so he figures its better to cut things short while his body still feels relaxed and pliant. The air is cold once he’s out of the water and he’s grateful for the fact that his companion doesn’t seem to have anything left to say. 

“We’ll have to be out of here early if we want best pick at the junker’s.” San remembers out loud, securing his towel around his hips with an absent sense of propriety. “You might also want to figure out where you’re headed, otherwise you’re just going to end up back at the Garrison with me. I think I recall you saying you’d have to be dead in a box for that to happen, right?”

“I need access to a transmitter before I can make any of those kinds of decisions. I told you that.” Wooyoung responds, and San can hear him splashing the warm water onto his chest, washing himself down. 

“Right.”

San stretches gently. He knows the feeling of being watched by Wooyoung, and he can sense it now. 

“Wooyoung?” A quiet noise of recognition. “Stop staring at me.” 

Headed for the doors, San pauses only to pick up Wooyoung’s robe, his act hidden from his victim’s sight by the shroud of steam, picturing the boy sprinting naked through the halls of the hotel. Funny. Almost as funny as the choking sound he’s making as he makes a lot of noise about how he totally wasn’t staring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a little taste into woosan's dynamic in this fic u w u  
> bear in mind that this is an au and not based on the people in real life, their ages or anything like that etc  
> so they hijacked the prison transferral ship and are currently on another planet in that solar system, sort of forced to remain together so they can make their escape  
> next chapter will be longer and we'll meet more members! 
> 
> thank you for your enthusiasm and comments so far! please let me know what you think I love reading your thoughts and feelings good or bad :3 
> 
> love xx
> 
> I'm on twitter @in_san_ity come share ateez memes with me or chat woosan! uwu;;;; I have no fandom friends


	3. Lightning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***in this fic, everyone is several years older than they are in real life. think mid to late 20s. aint no 19 year old doing this shit

Wooyoung is a little sore the next day as the pair pick their way through the back streets in search of the junkyard. He hadn’t enjoyed San’s prank the night before, and as such had been uncharacteristically quiet all morning. He was probably plotting revenge; San had thought to himself as he watched Wooyoung snatch some sort of bun from a street vendor without so much as batting an eye. He’d certainly changed over the years. 

This planet was small, dark and almost perpetually wet. It was raining even now, cloudy rain that seemed to carry a strange scent. Everything was built upward to make up for the lack of room on the ground, which usually made junkyards easy to find as they remained as pits and flat plots between suburbs. There was a lot of junk in space, and on a planet like this one that served as a stopover for inter-dimensional travellers, there was even more than usual. The inhabitants had humanoid features and most spoke the intergalactic dialect which made getting around easier, but also increased the chances of being recognised and turned into authorities in return for a reward. San hadn’t forgotten that he and Wooyoung had killed prison officers and hijacked a vessel to escape. They needed a way out of this solar system, and they needed it quickly. 

Thankfully, the junkyard San was familiar with was not so difficult to find once he had his bearings, and they were soon clambering over metal and rubble to find their way to the central office. Wooyoung lagged behind a little, nibbling on his stolen breakfast and looking around with interest, lifting things up here and there in search of lost treasures. He really was a bounty hunter, now. 

Suddenly a noise to the pair’s right startled them and, in a flash, Wooyoung was in front of San, blade drawn and held out to his side. The action was protective, like it was sheer instinct to put himself between San and the line of fire. The elder raised his brow in question, staring thoughtfully at Wooyoung’s side profile as he scanned their surroundings, intently focused. He needn’t have bothered, really, because in the next second a short, grubby human was extracting himself from a pile of sheet metal and shaking himself off to greet his visitors. Wooyoung scoffed and sheathed his blade, not even acknowledging San as he wandered back off to what he had been doing before, mouth full of bread. 

“San?” 

“The one and only, Jongho,” San replied, finally looking away from the walking contradiction that was his ex. 

“You are a sight for sore eyes let me tell you!” Jongho practically squeaks, rushing over to the sergeant to pull him down and ruffle up his hair like some sort of long lost pet dog.

“What the hell are you doing on Eso? What the hell are you doing here specifically? You need something don’t you. What do you need? Wait, I thought you were in the Force now.”

“Jongho.”

“Yes, right. Calm, got it.” He wriggles his shoulders. “But you gotta give me something.”

“Well, the abridged version is that I was intercepting suspicious pirate activity, things went south and we ended up on a prison carrier bound for Moon 351.”

“Moon 351? Fuck.” Jongho pauses, distracted momentarily as he notices Wooyoung in the background kicking things this way and that, leaving a trail of mess. “And when you say ‘we’…?”

San’s uneasy to bring it up. Jongho knows part of the story and the man has a big mouth, he doesn’t want to make things any weirder in an already weird dynamic. 

“Wooyoung.”

As expected, Jongho’s eyes widen and he immediately tries his luck at getting a better look at the younger man, holding onto San’s upper arms and peering all the way around him without any subtlety. San can only look up to the sky and let out a world-weary sigh. He wishes he’d never gotten drunk and blabbed his heart out to the other recruits. He’d sworn back then that he’d never fall back into Wooyoung’s world, and he really had thought he’d be able to stick to that. There was a big universe keeping them apart for several years, how could he have known that wouldn’t last forever?

And now here he was. 

“Wait are you back together?” Jongho whisper-yells. “Wait… he is hot as fuck, San, Jesus.”

“Jongho I’m really going to need you to pull yourself together. Wooyoung was the pirate to who’s suspicious activity I was responding. And now we’re stuck together until we can get out of this solar system. If he gets caught they’ll just find me anyway and vice versa. So, yeah.”

“I wish I could say I was listening to you but I was honestly just checking him out this whole time.” 

San glances over at Wooyoung to see the boy atop a pile of junk, and his next kick causes a miniature landslide of trash that blocks a walkway below. He doesn’t seem to care however the sudden mess does the trick in shaking Jongho out of his stupor. 

“Oh. You weren’t lying when you said he was a little shit.”

“Nope.”

“Okay so you need a craft. Something that can get you out of this solar system quickly and won’t be detected. I mean, that’s a laundry list for disaster, San. Hyperspace travel means you need a warp drive, and good tech to fly under the radar.” Jongho hisses through his teeth. “Those kinds of ships have a hefty price tag and I’m willing to bet you haven’t got a cent on you, right?”

“I know it’s a big ask. I don’t want to involve you in something that could make trouble for you. If you can’t help us then I understand.” 

Jongho takes a second to think, his brow furrowed. Wooyoung’s approaching them now, breakfast finished and undoubtedly bored with his scavenger hunt already, he leaps down from his perch and pops up between them in no time. 

“Well, is he going to help us?” Wooyoung demands, looking directly at San for the answers. 

“Right here, kiddo.” Jongho pipes up, narrowing his eyes and waving his fingers in front of his face. “Listen, I’ll help you steal a ship, but I need something in return. I want to come with you, just back to our solar system. Eso is awful and I miss Earth. I’m handy to have around, I promise-“

“Absolutely not, we’re not bringing along your high school friend for a fun road trip.” He’s speaking to San again, and its apparent that he’s irritated. “I mean honestly, how do we even know we can trust him? It’s been years since you last saw him who knows what or who he’s involved with now.”

“To be fair, it was years since I last saw you and you’re the one who ran off to become a bounty hunter and murder people for a living.”

“Wow, here we go again!” Wooyoung throws up a hand with an incredulous chuckle. “Mr High and Mighty air ace! Is it cold up there on your pedestal?”

“Hey, I wasn’t the ace, or am I remembering it wrong?”

“Yeah, it was me San, and I couldn’t take another minute of being controlled by those absolute bureaucratic sociopaths in the Force. Too bad you couldn’t trust me and follow suit, and now you’re stuck there being brainwashed like the rest of them.” 

San can’t help a bitter scoff at this last note, tucking his hands in his pockets and looking aside. Jongho looks a bit nervous, like he knows what’s about to come out of San’s mouth and he wishes he could stop it.

“Trust you. Trust you after you slept with someone else behind my back? What’s the problem with this picture, Wooyoung?”

Wooyoung’s tight-lipped now. San can tell he’s got a lot more he’d like to say, but there isn’t really much point. They had the exact same argument hundreds of times before, and they still ended up coming to the same conclusion. And Jongho is still standing right there, an uncomfortable expression on his face like he’s just eaten something sour. 

“Bring him along. If he ends up selling us out for a reward I won’t even wait around to tell you that I told you so. I’ll leave you behind to rot in prison, mark my words.” 

Wooyoung shoves past San and heads back the way they came. 

San regrets it, but he couldn’t have helped it. It’s one of the many missing pieces that they had never solved when they decided to go their separate ways. Why did Wooyoung cheat on him? It was a question the younger had just refused to answer, every single time he was asked. It was a wound that hadn’t been allowed to heal, damage that was never explained and had left San closed-off and distrusting. Logically, he knows that bringing it up was just painful for both of them, but his heart still yearns for closure. Where had he gone wrong? 

“Well… what a lovely ‘welcome aboard’,” Jongho mutters, still watching Wooyoung’s heels kick up dust as he storms away. 

\---

The plan is to sneak their way up through a nightclub in the heart of the city. Word on the street is that a popular Eso playboy- and apparent billionaire- is hosting some sort of party in the private penthouse room. Usually such notable celebrities travel with the newest tech, and Jongho feels fairly confident that the man will show up in the Lamborghini of space travel. All they need to do is find their way onto the roof and get out undetected. 

Seems simple enough in theory, but everything is made infinitely more difficult by the gaping chasm between Wooyoung and San.

Wooyoung’s quick mouth and Jongho’s wit work seamlessly together when it comes to getting them into the club, more than making up for San’s brooding silence. They charm and talk their way up through each floor of the club, each party more elite and more wild than the last. San’s easily irritated by the pace at which they’re travelling, even though he understands the need to mingle and to weave the illusion that they are simply three harmless socialites wanting to be let into the most exclusive party in town. 

San hates parties, and more than anything he hates how good Wooyoung is at spinning a fantasy for his enthralled admirers. It feels like its been hours of watching the boy laugh and avert his eyes coquettishly, using simple touches to draw men and women alike into his orbit, just like he had done so effortlessly with San once upon a time. It was more innocent back then, of course, but it doesn’t quell the bitter taste in San’s throat. It doesn’t do anything to detract from the sinking feeling of just being one of Wooyoung’s many idiots. 

Just like the three tall Eso men Wooyoung has wrapped around his little finger that very second; idiots. 

San’s leaning back on the bar, holding a drink of something that he’s hardly touched, and he can’t look away. Jongho had told him to stay put and look like he’s enjoying himself while he scouts the perimeter for a way onto the roof, but San can’t manage it. He knows his irritation is writ large all over his face. He doesn’t like the way the three crowd around Wooyoung, leaving him with nowhere to run. They’ve been steadily moving in and San has watched the younger man’s expression grow darker and more troubled the longer he’s stuck there. The thought of leaving him there to deal with his mess feels like an appealing punishment for the displaced pining San is going through, but he knows he couldn’t do that. Without touching a drop of his drink, he slides it away from him over the bar and weaves through the partygoers to reach Wooyoung and his admirers. 

“Back off,” He mutters dispassionately, shouldering his way gruffly over to Wooyoung and grappling an arm around his waist quite roughly. He’s doing this because Jongho is going to come back any second and they’re going to have to leave quite suddenly. He’s not jealous. 

San’s grouchy tone is an immediate deterrent for the three well-dressed men, who give the pair a glance and shuffle off. 

“Have it your way, man.” One of them pipes off over his shoulder but San ignores him, grabbing Wooyoung’s wrist and pulling him around the corner to lightly push him up against the wall. 

The younger boy lifts his hands up and places them on San’s chest, peering at him with a faraway look in his eyes. San frowns, its distracting. 

“We don’t have time for this, Wooyoung. We need to be ready to leave any minute, there’s no room in our plan for you to be wasting-“

San is cut off once more by the look in Wooyoung’s eyes. It’s really soft, nothing like the way he’d stared at the socialites earlier. He reaches up with his right hand to cup San’s jaw and it makes the older man draw in a sharp breath, wondering where on earth this came from and where it’s going to go. His head is spinning. Wooyoung’s gaze falls to his ex-lover’s lips, and San feels absolutely paralysed, stepping in closer so that the boy is pressed flush to the wall. Their lips meet and its like a bolt of lightning is racing through the sergeant’s body; from his head to his feet. 

“Wow.” Jongho’s back, just in the nick of time to stop the kiss before it even really starts. “This is just so not the time for this kind of bullshit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyone curious about who wooyoung slept with? any guesses as to who or why? >:^3  
> wriggles eyebrows  
> they're such a mess this is so fun to write  
> tag yourself I'm the pot plant in the party staring at woosan trying to make out


	4. Remember

“So,” Jongho spins in his chair, voice pitching up in a sing-song sort of tone as he stares at San, “Are we going to talk about what the fuck that was back there? Or are we all just going to pretend you weren’t about to fuck? Not sure.” 

San sighs. 

“Jongho are you sure we’re out of Eso’s comms range?”

“Do I look like a complete and utter idiot to you? Don’t answer that. But answer my first question.”

San remains tight-lipped, staring down at the floor beneath his feet, trying to direct his mind anywhere other than where its been for the last few hours… Wooyoung’s kiss. It had come at the worst possible time. They could potentially be trapped together on this ship for weeks or even months; space travel was often an unpredictable thing and they could not estimate exactly when they would reach safety. 

“San-“

“I don’t know what happened back there, that’s the best I can give you.” San finally replied in frustration, leaning back in his chair. 

“Okay, look, I’m not going to push it because frankly I don’t care enough. But you need to sort yourself out. You were looking all kinds of love struck at that kid and it was sad to watch.” Jongho catches San’s expression and shrugs. “I’m just being honest.”

It’s shitty to even think about, but Jongho is right. Love struck is exactly how San had felt the instant Wooyoung looked up into his eyes with such familiarity and gentleness; when his hand held San’s face firmly, confidently, as though no time had passed at all and they had never been apart. The sergeant didn’t want to allow himself to fall into these feelings again. He’d spent so long caught up in his head about the boy, feeling every emotion on the spectrum between heartbreak and resentment, and he just couldn’t afford to go back to that place. He was never going to hear the answers he wanted anyway. It wouldn’t change the fact that he would return to his place in the Force and Wooyoung would disappear into space again.

“Yeah well. Sometimes honesty isn’t the best policy.” San grumbles. “Is everything set here? Let’s go see what there is to eat.”

The ship isn’t very large, designed perhaps to fit around fifty to sixty people. The perfect party vessel. The mess area is laid out to accommodate a gathering, but thankfully the mechanised benches are upright when Jongho and San get there. The food is pretty standard fare, and after a brief argument over how to use the oven to turn sachets into stew, the pair finally sit down with their meal. 

It’s their first chance to really catch up on what happened since the academy. Like many of their classmates, Wooyoung included, Jongho had decided the Force wasn’t for him. He was lazy and preferred to work at his own pace, and he disliked the pressure and responsibility of saving lives. San understood that, he really did, but that pressure, conversely, was his driving force. Jongho had done odd jobs here and there throughout the galaxy since then, but following an Earth girl to Eso had turned out to be his biggest mistake. She’d left him without explanation, stuck working in her uncle’s junkyard. 

San couldn’t help but laugh. 

“And you were saying something about being love struck earlier?” 

Jongho throws a pea at him. 

The whoosh of the airseal on the door alerts them to Wooyoung’s entrance, behind San. Jongho looks up.

“Um.”

San frowns, wondering what it is that Wooyoung’s doing to get Jongho to respond like that. He makes a face at his friend, raising his eyebrows as if Jongho will somehow be able to give him some sort of nonverbal explanation. 

Wooyoung doesn’t say anything, but he comes around to Jongho’s side of the table. He’s shirtless, wearing loose cargo pants, and his hair is wet. He’d obviously taken some time to find a shower. San is amused to note that Wooyoung still has the same habit of not properly drying himself, made obvious by the rivulets of water over his chest. There’s new scars and scratches all over him, and the sight of them serves to remind San of how long its been since he’s seen the boy. So long since he was last kissing a once-smooth, relatively unblemished body. It doesn’t detract from Wooyoung’s charm though, and San reminds himself to stop staring. 

“Um. What are you doing?” Wooyoung swings his leg over the bench and sits down straddling it, facing a rather alarmed looking Jongho. “Get away from me.” 

Wooyoung ignores him and plucks a roast potato off his tray, putting the whole thing in his mouth without breaking eye contact even once. 

“What are you- what’s he doing? What is he doing?” Jongho turns to look at San now, leaning away from Wooyoung, and San laughs despite himself. It’s too much. Jongho’s holding his hand up to the bounty hunter as though to shield himself. “Jesus, put a damn shirt on. You’re going to poke my eyes out with those things.”

They’re hysterical to watch, and its funny to think that only a day ago Wooyoung had been so vehemently angry about Jongho joining them. It seems that they bonded during their little mission, even if it was only just enough to have them this close together without Wooyoung being snappy. It’s the perfect time for San to make his escape to seek out the shower himself, Jongho’s complaints about nipples fading into background noise. 

 

\---

 

Days turn into weeks as the three voyage further from the planets central to this solar system, seeking some kind of beacon or signal that will direct them to safety. They cannot simply send out un-coded transmissions for fear of bringing the law down on themselves, so all they can do is wait, and move forward, charting their way and mapping any and all coordinates that seem to point the way home. 

The dynamic is still strange. The same old tension is simmering in suspended motion, like time has slowed down and yet, Wooyoung and San don’t have the momentum to shift the dead air. Neither mentions the kiss. Neither mentions the past. Each time it seems as though they could soften toward each other, and let something- anything- under their skin, its force of habit to put a stop to that interaction and go their separate ways. 

Early on, Wooyoung had walked in on San in the shower, and was stuck frozen in the doorway like he’d seen a ghost. San could have sworn he tasted his heartbeat on his tongue as they stared at each other; pulse racing in his ears so loud that he could not even hear the water pelting the floor. It had felt like something would happen in that moment, but Wooyoung had simply walked away, leaving the older man to rest back against the wall, trying to catch his breath like he’d run a marathon. 

Other times it was little things, like catching each others gaze while smiling over something Jongho had said- when they both so clearly wanted to laugh together but held themselves back for whatever reason. Sometimes they found themselves sitting together in the mess, and though they didn’t talk much if at all, the warmth between them where their bodies almost touched said more than enough to make up for it. 

Small instants when it was stupid not to say anything, so they decided to be idiots together in silence. 

 

\---

 

-10 years ago-

The academy was not what San had wanted to do with his life. He’d grown up on the streets, scavenging and stealing for food, sharing every resource he could find with his neighbours and family in the struggle to stay alive. He remembered watching the bleak reports on the tv, the predictions that informed people of just how much longer the earth would be able to support human life. Colonising other planets in the solar system and building gigantic housing ships had been too little too late when it came to fixing the damage of climate change. 

His grandparents had been too old to consider moving into space, even if they had the money to. They desperately wanted San to join the Force. At least there he could eat, earn a living and have a purpose. Something that the Surface could no longer offer him. When the United Governments made the decision to begin terraforming the earth- a new science believed to be able to change the atmosphere, environment and topography of the planet to once again support human life- toxins were released into the air, and the old and weak were the first to die. Including San’s grandparents. 

There had been nothing left for him on the Surface. Not while the UG still trialled the gigantic terraformers without knowing how successful they would be. On a whim, San had boarded a shuttle out of the atmosphere for the first time to begin training in the Force’s academy. 

It was a tough time, and San felt lonelier than he ever had living down below. There was a division between the children; those who had grown up in the colonies above, and those who had been stuck down below. The boys often fought, and the girls found other ways to belittle each other and show their learned contempt. For someone as quiet and introverted as San, the whole experience was confronting and jarring. He was happiest as a boy simply observing social situations, but he was pushed violently into a world of verbal confrontations and pointed questions and insults. 

It was then, in those early days as teenagers, that San first laid eyes on Wooyoung. 

Back then, Wooyoung had soft purple hair, long enough to touch his shoulders so he often wore it in a ponytail or scrunched back messily. He was from the surface too, and he fought with the other boys like it was nobodies’ business. He was on all the teachers’ lists of problematic students, and yet despite the frequent punishments, they still let him get away with things the other kids couldn’t, because he was just so good. He was perfect in the flight simulator, and never missed a target in battle drills. In class, he absorbed information quickly and was instantly able to apply it in physical training without guidance. 

Like many boys had done back then, Wooyoung and San became fast friends when they banded together to fight against the others; a sense of pride and place pushing them together. Wooyoung was so protective of San. The older man was shorter at first, thin as a rake and so soft-spoken that he was always a target. They would sit together in class, buddy up in physical training, and share their food in the mess hall. On days when San did not want to speak, Wooyoung did the talking for them both, confident and bright and everything that San wished he could be. 

As they grew up, San grew taller. He filled out and he spent much of his free time focusing on hand to hand combat and physical strength. He was a fantastic pilot, but he wanted to prove himself in every field. Just as his grandparents had predicted, the structure of the Force academy had given him purpose and drive, a fire behind his eyes that drove him toward the goal of finally becoming a cadet. Wooyoung never put too much effort into anything, on the other hand, because he was so effortlessly skilled. He didn’t grow any taller, but he grew prettier and prettier, and San took notice. 

He couldn’t help his own desires and urges that came with getting older, and it wasn’t as though San had never noticed his friend before. But this was different. Suddenly, they were sharing a room, and everything was so much more personal. Wooyoung was getting changed in the dim neon lights of their cabin, his skin so soft and inviting. Occasions where they would share a bed became stifling instead of comforting, awkward limbs tangled together and hot breath fluttering against San’s neck. Looking at him was sometimes so painful that San’s chest felt tight. 

Others noticed, picking on Wooyoung for his looks, making fun of his long hair and inventing rumours about his promiscuity. Wooyoung always said it didn’t bother him, that it was water off a duck’s back and it didn’t cause him to lose any sleep, but San did not agree. He knew where the boy was every night, and that was asleep in his arms- small and vulnerable and beautiful. He couldn’t stand to hear the awful things said about the younger, so suddenly San was the one fighting for the both of them. Throwing punches every time someone so much as looked at him the wrong way. He was angry and pent up and dreadfully in love with his best friend. 

Wooyoung was capable of calming him in ways that nothing and no one else could, but San wasn’t truly at peace until the night when their whole little world tipped upside down. 

He shouldered his way into their room and Wooyoung was there; leaning against the door to the shower, naked and smiling. All the anger San had inside was gone as though it had never been there, because somehow he knew what that look Wooyoung was giving him meant. He’d let himself be lead over to his bunk, and pushed down onto it only to receive a lapful of his best friend a second later. The younger had tugged San’s bruised hands up to his lips, kissed them softly and then guided them to rest on his hips, sliding in close so they were chest to chest and sharing the same trembling breaths. Nothing had ever tasted as good as Wooyoung’s lips, and San had been certain that nothing would ever taste as good again. 

-Present- 

San stood in the observation deck, deep in thought. 

Somewhere between the shower and bed, he’d ended up here. He felt just as listless and lost as he had before Wooyoung had been with him that night, and he didn’t know how to shake it. He was too old for this. He’d grown up. He’d been on his own and survived fine, so why was he letting Wooyoung get to him all over again when it hadn’t worked out before? 

“San.”

Speak of the devil. 

At least he has a shirt on this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a chapter to give you a little bit of context and show you what shaped woosan into who they are and what they are together.   
> reading your comments makes me so happy, I love the theories so far, keep em coming c;  
> like whats gonna happen next chapter, now that san and woo young are in the same room alone... what are they going to do? the mind truly truly boggles 
> 
> anyway, until next time ;))) x


End file.
